Second vid in weeks shows apparent US national fighting to oust Syria’s president

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For the second time in a matter of weeks, a video of a man purported to be an American fighting alongside anti-regime forces in Syria surfaced on the internet.

In late January, a video of an unidentified, similar-looking and similar-sounding man, also said to be an American fighting in Syria, appeared on YouTube. In that clip, the man threatened to kill Syrian President Bashar Assad whether or not he abdicates.

The new clip, uploaded on Tuesday, shows a man with a North American accent speaking in English as he and another celebrate the apparent downing of a regime helicopter.

‘Yes, we smoked the mother fuckers, didn’t we,” the English-speaker says with a smile. “Hell, yeah. We smoked about – I don’t know – ten, twenty,” he finishes.

The clip on YouTube identifies the man as “an American with a Salafi (or Amish) beard … seen sitting in a Jeep next to an Arab fighter rejoicing for having shot down a Syrian military helicopter.”

January’s video, aired on YouTube and a variety of other websites, identified the man as an “American mujahid” who was surrounded by his Syrian compatriots. He addressed the camera in English with an American accent. It did not identify the speaker, nor did it indicate where he was from.

“Bashar Assad, your days are numbered,” he said. “You are going down in flames. You should just quit now, while you can, and leave. You are going to die, no matter what. Where you go we will find you and kill you. Do you understand?”

The Times of Israel could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.

It is not clear how many Americans are fighting in the civil war against Assad, but the speaker in the video would not be the only one fighting alongside the Free Syrian Army. Matthew VanDyke, a self-proclaimed freedom fighter, participated in the uprising against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, then fought in Syria before returning to the United States.

The BBC also reported on two Syrian-American brothers who returned to Syria to fight against the Assad regime.

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